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I keep hearing about free quarterback Justin Fields being attached to the Jets, and it’s somewhat baffling.
Headline – “Insider Reveals Jets’ Succession Plan for Aaron Rodgers at Quarterback.”
This was on an aggregation site and was related to a Jets beat writer saying on his podcast
“I think Fields is the No. 1 target. I’m not the only one that said that. A lot of reporters — national and local — have said it probably will be the Jets or the Steelers (for Fields). I don’t think they are the only ones that are interested.
“I think it’s going to come down to whether Fields wants to re-up with the Steelers because it sounds like they prefer him over Russell Wilson or if he wants to take whatever money the Jets offer him and go join up with Garrett Wilson.”
I won’t mention the beat writer’s name because I don’t want this to come across as personal.
I’m going after the premise, not the person.
Justin Fields to the Jets is a bad idea. Here is a very short bio I wrote about him in the last issues of JC:
“His natural ability is rare with a rocket arm and world-class speed, but he needs to do a better job of seeing the entire field and going through his progressions better. His 14-30 lifetime NFL record is not ideal on a resume.”
Something to consider about this player:
He was a five-star recruit out of high school, who signed with Georgia, but was stuck behind Jake Fromm, so he transferred to Ohio State. He was drafted by Chicago in the first round, but they moved on after three years, and then he signed with Pittsburgh, and they moved on after six games to go to Russell Wilson.
There is a pattern here.
In fairness, he did have two good seasons at Ohio State, but something you consider about Ohio State – they are loaded with five-star offensive linemen and receivers, so you have seen a lot of QBs play well there, but not in the NFL.
They just won the national championship with Will Howard at QB, and he probably isn’t NFL starting QB material.
NFL Network draft analyst Lance Zeirlein wrote about Howard:
- Not enough eye manipulation to keep defenders guessing.
- Content with half-field reads instead of getting through his progressions.
Those two issues also plague Fields.
He’s a great athlete, not a great pocket QB.
To go from Aaron Rodgers an elite processor, to a guy who isn’t – why would you do that?
Talk about opposites.
This concept that Garrett Wilson would love the signing because they played together at Ohio State is probably flawed.
Initially, he would likely be happy that his friend is in town and a teammate again, until he’s open and the QB isn’t always seeing him, which tends to happen with receivers that play with Fields.
If anybody expects Wilson to have 101 catches, like he did last year with Rodgers, with a QB like Fields, you are probably mistaken.
Fields will make some electric plays at times because of his great wheels and rocket arm, but in between those highlight film plays is too much inconsistency, spearheaded by slow processing, not throwing with anticipation or seeing the middle of the field well.
Look, stories saying the Jets are interested in Fields, might just be speculation.
Jets fans should hope that is the case.
Fields to the Jets seems like a bad idea.
It might stem from more of a fantasy football worldview than what should be an NFL talent evaluator worldview.
I don’t know a lot about fantasy football, but from what I hear, running QBs gain a lot of fantasy points.
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